Your guide to eating alkaline foods

One of the keys to maintaining optimal health is discovering the correct way to eat food in order to maximize your alkaline potential, and in turn prevent chronic disease from developing in your body. But in order to do this, you have to first learn which foods are alkaline-forming, and which are acid-forming, as well as how to eat them in balance.

The continuous onslaught of chemicals, additives, and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) throughout the common food supply, not to mention modern society’s heavy reliance on processed, nutrient-stripped foods, is no doubt taking a huge toll on human health.

Most people also eat copious amounts of food that promote acidity, which in turn makes them more prone to disease.

What most people fail to realize is that their bodies are constantly trying to achieve a state of equilibrium at a pH of about 7.365, which is slightly alkaline. To do this, the body draws from the nutrients you put into it via food, which either acidifies or alkalizes the blood. When there are not enough nutrients to maintain this slightly alkaline state, the body draws from backup nutrient reserves in the bones and other places.

When these backups run dry, the body’s internal biological terrain becomes a hotbed for chronic disease, which is right about the time the mainstream medical system begins rolling out the drugs. A much simpler solution; though, at least for most people, is to simply switch up their diets and begin to incorporate more alkaline-forming foods into their everyday meals.

Alkaline-forming foods vs. acid-forming foods

As you may have already guessed, most of the foods that people eat today — refined grains, pasteurized dairy, conventional meat, vegetable oils, artificial sweeteners, and processed sugars — are acid-forming foods. Rather than contribute to the roughly 80 percent alkaline-forming, 20 percent acid-forming diet, which some experts in the field believe to be ideal, a diet composed primarily of these acid-forming foods inhibits nerve function and damages cells.

“All natural foods contain both acid and alkaline-forming elements,” says the Conscious Living Center. “In some, acid-forming elements dominate; in others, alkaline-forming elements dominate. According to modern biochemistry, it is not the organic matter of foods that leave acid or alkaline residues in the body. The inorganic matter (sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium and calcium) determines the acidity or alkalinity of the body fluids.”

According to several different resources on acid and alkaline-forming foods, some of the best alkaline forming foods include:

These are just a few of the most alkaline foods available, and there are many more that you can see at the charts linked below this article. But this will give you an idea of the types of foods you should focus more heavily on incorporating into your diet, while decreasing consumption of acid-forming foods like alcohol, breads, feedlot-based meats, sugar, and coffee.

Acid Alkaline Food Chart

Food consumption in the most advanced countries of the world has changed from nutritious raw foods to highly processed foods very low in nutritional value. New chemicals have been introduced to our foods, air, and water, which have put even greater stresses on our system’s ability to control the chemistry of our body fluids, and therefore functionality of our inner biological terrain is at risk. As a result, we see huge increases in the incidence of life-threatening or chronic diseases. That’s why it is of utmost importance to our healthiness to finding the ideal balance of alkaline and acid forming foods.

Have a look at the table below to identify various foods’ pH-level. Each one is assigned a number which mirrors its approximate relative potential of alkalinity (+) or acidity (-) existent in one ounce (28.35g) of food. The higher the number, the better it is for you to eat.

Table: pH scale of alkaline and acid forming foods(Source: “Back To The House Of Health” by Shelley Redford Young)

The more alkaline-forming foods you add to your nutrition, the stronger will be the results. Should you not be able to completely avoid acidic foods, you should at least try to consume as less as possible of them, and instead put more green food and veggies on your plate. Remember that every little step to a more alkaline diet is an improvement to a healthier way of life.

Moreover, you can add green plants nutritional supplements to your diet, which can support you in attaining pH balance in a natural way. Such supplements were developed by Dr. Young, a microbiologist and nutritionist. Over many years he has researched the interrelations between acid wastes inside the body and the development of unhealthy conditions and disease.

His assignment is not only to promote a stronger awareness among people for a proper acid alkaline balance within the body, he has also developed the InnerLight products to support the body to naturally decrease its acid levels by alkalizing the cell system. Two of his cornerstone products are called SuperGreens and Prime pH.